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EDMONTON – A petition calling for an Alberta woman allegedly involved in the largest animal cruelty case in the province to be banned from owning animals for life has garnered thousands of signatures.

Animal advocates are reeling after learning the accused, April Dawn Irving, 55, has had more than 300 dogs seized from her care in Alberta and Saskatchewan in eight years.

“There's a serious shortfall in the legislation if someone can have 319 dogs seized from them in three separate cases," said Charlene Myers, founder of Animal Cruelty Legislation Advocates Canada, who launched the online petition at change.org.

In the most recent case, 200 dogs, many of them emaciated, matted and suffering from wounds and broken bones, were seized this month from a rural property in southern Alberta.

"The dogs were found mostly just on chains staked around the property. They were sheltering under vehicles and sheds that weren't appropriate for the winter weather,” said SPCA spokesman Roland Lines.

One puppy didn't survive the rescue and another dog was euthanized, he said.

In December, Irving agreed to surrender 60 dogs to the SPCA. And on Jan. 13, the SPCA returned to the property to seize the remaining 141 dogs. The surviving dogs are now in the care of the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS).

“We've seen a lot of neglect and abuse cases but this by far has to be the worst," said AARCS executive director Deanna Thompson, who said one puppy arrived with a broken jaw and another with a broken leg.

Shocking images of dogs with matted fur and showing rib cages sparked outrage, but revelations that the accused owner had 82 dogs removed from a property in Leslie, Sask., in 2010, fanned the flames.

Irving was charged and convicted under Saskatchewan's Animal Protection Act of non-criminal neglect and fined $5,000, the highest penalty possible at the time. She was also banned from owning more than two dogs at a time for 10 years, but that ban is only applicable in Saskatchewan.

"She simply just moved to Alberta where the ban wasn't able to be enforced," said Myers.

The petition calls for provincial and federal animal neglect and cruelty charges against Irving, and the maximum penalty, including a lifetime ban from owning animals, if she’s convicted.

More than 7,775 people signed the petition as of Saturday night.

Myers wants to see Irving charged under the criminal code so any bans could be enforced across Canada.

"We just really hope that the courts will start to acknowledge, and I think they are, the fact that animal cruelty needs to be taken seriously and people need to be given some sort of meaningful punishment so that they know it is not acceptable to treat animals like that.”